2.1.2-Laissezferre
Brick!Club 2.1.2 Hougoumont How do I even begin to describe Hougoumont? I’m not very good at spotting symbolism, but there are two things here that reminded me of other things simply because I’ve read the brick before. First, there’s the well used as a tomb, a.k.a. the mini version of the ravine that swallowed thousands of men and horses. This courtyard well-turned-mass grave pit is but a sampling of the horrors that will come. Can you call that foreshadowing even though it’s history? Then, there’s the eerie state of the stairs in the main brick building. The staircase has two sections; the English, besieged on the stairs and huddled on the steps at the top, cut away the lower steps. Does that sound familiar? Indeed, because we see it again further in the story, two volumes away. The spiral staircase had been hacked away with an axe and was lying, prone, in the middle of the downstairs room, where a few wounded men were breathing their last… So what does this say? That besieged men employ the same desperate mode of defense, or something more? Maybe I’ll go back to this when we get to Volume V. Commentary Pilferingapples I just I can’t form coherent thoughts about this, it’s all related to my titles-induced Feels Breakdown of a few nights ago (as opposed to my medical neuromelt that is seriously wrecking my verbal skills atm) but: (a) THANK YOU HANA FOR DRAWING THE EXPLICIT PARALLEL, no really thanks, I’m a bit wretched with keeping setting details in mind and this will help (b) part of what’s getting me in these parallels is…well, here’s Waterloo. A battle so famous Hugo’s not even gonna talk about it, not really; he does the equivalent of “and our next scene, a battle that NEEDS no introduction”, here. And the Corinthe ISN’T famous; he gives a blow-by-blow there because the June Rebellion was, even then, verging on anti-famous. But: here it is. Here they both are. And I feel like the story is demanding to know the difference, like, if Waterloo is famous why not the Corinthe, if the June Rebellion isn’t famous than why this battle? What gets to be historical, why, how many lives and what sort of changes make the difference? Waterloo is a few shell craters and a peasant with a story, here, so how’s that more than a few words carved on a wall? I REALLY DON’T KNOW BUT IT’S BOTHERING ME AND THIS BOOK IS BOTHERING ME. Lecapunk (reply to Pilferingapples) THESE ARE SUCH EXCELLENT POINTS I CANNOT EVEN. But yeah, I’m with pilferingapples on this one — Hugo, Hugo says he doesn’t need to talk about Waterloo. But then he does talk about Waterloo, but not the facts of Waterloo, no — he gives an overview of its horrors, and for those of us coming into the brick with knowledge of where this story is going, he tells us, books and books early, about the horrors that will be faced on the barricade and in the wineshop. Waterloo and the June Rebellion — how are they different? In the end, they’re not, except in one massively important way: The ideals being fought for. The Rebellion is an insurrection, fought for the powerless, because as Hannah Arendt says, violence is used often by those who are powerless because violence can destroy — has destroyed — power so easily. The June Rebellion is that; it’s the hope that this violence can be what topples the thing that leaves the people powerless. Because only in the vacuum of power can new power appear. And power comes from support, Arendt posits. But Waterloo? What is Waterloo fought for? For glory? For expansionism? Does Hugo even make it clear, the way he’s going to make the barricade so clear for us later? The horror is the same. But because those who already have power are ordering violence upon each others’ borders and peoples, Waterloo wins fame. But the Rebellion is crushed, and the people remain powerless, though they wanted to destroy the power that they no longer supported. And that kind of failure lies forgotten in the depths of time. History is written by the powerful, in the end. But a novel? A novel can be written by, vaguely speaking, anyone.